China's First "Naked" Government

By Tang Xiangyang, Zhang Meigui
Published: 2010-03-26

 

According to the results of a People's Daily survey published January 29, 2010, corruption and anti-corruption measures are the highest concern of Chinese web users. Thus citizens welcomed the recent publication by a small county in Sichuan Province of its expenditures and quickly started refering to it as a "naked" government. Guandong Province has followed suit and announced its plans to publicize its budget this year.

On the Baimiao county website, the local government has posted almost their entire budget for 2010, including their social security expenses, accounting for 400,000 yuan, as well as the amount of subsidies provided for civil servants. Their budget even notes that the government is planning to buy some notebooks at a price of 1.5 yuan per book!

In the Governmental Expense Budget of 2010, the government gives a detailed list of expenses of the county-level government in January and February 2010, including treating guests and using and maintaining government vehicles, expenses ranging from 1.5 yuan to 1,269 yuan. The budget shows January's total expenses to be 8,240.5 yuan. For each budget item, the government has provided not only the cost, purpose and time, but also the exact people who have used, supervised and arranged the money.

"In the past, people always doubted officials-believing they are corrupt. It's hard to explain yourself to them, but facts speak for themselves," Zhang Ying, Party Secretary of the Baimiao County said regarding the reason his county has chosen to publicize the governmental budget.

He went on to say that Baimiao County would continue with the publication of its budget so as to "create a harmonious relationship between the government and ordinary people." He also admitted that, after publicizing the government budget, he hoped that more people and companies would choose to invest in his county.

Aside from Baimiao County, China Daily has reported that Guandong government's general office has issued a document on how to improve transparency in 2010, which requires the finance departments of all provincial levels to publicize their budgets.

In China's 2010 Provincial Government Transparency List of Rankings ( 2010年中国省级财政透明度排行榜), Guangdong has raised from eleventh place last year to third place this year. This list is compiled by the Public Policy Research Center of Shanghai University of Finance and Economics.

By last October, the Financial Bureau of Guangzhou, the capital city of Guangdong Province, had already publicized the budget of its 114 departments, winning national praise and creating the hot topic of whether or not local governments should publicize their budgets.

If Guandong Province successfully publicizes the finance budgets of all levels in its province, perhaps the rest of China will catch on and follow the trend started by Baimiao County.


Links and Sources:

 

Xinhua: 四川巴中白庙乡晒财政续:“全公开”不是偶然 (Chinese)

 

Yicai.com: 广东今年推进财政预算公开 (Chinese)

 

China News: 两会热点调查:七成网友认为县处级干部腐败最严重 (Chinese)

China Daily: Guandong to go public with budget